Transmission 2
~Encountering the Unknown~
Japanese Title:
通信中２ ～未知との遭遇～
Tsuushin-chuu Ni ~Michi to no Souguu~
Original Air Date:
23 November 2022
UGH. And somehow it only gets worse...
Everyone's exhausted from the climb. None of them can get cell reception here. Inukawa left the book with the summoning ritual behind in the car. Tome's frustration is mounting. Why are they not turning back? Just as they finally stumble across a workable way to the top, Tome explodes: she'd dropped all her other New Year's Eve plans to be here... and no one seems to have considered her feelings about any of this. Mob, Inukawa, Kijibayashi and Reigen, each making peace in their own way, intervene so they all can reach the twilight-drenched summit together. It's a gorgeous view.
Takenaka, it turns out, actually has the ritual covered. He quotes Tome's thoughts aloud while setting up so everyone can hear... and at last their love for her sinks in. This is all for her. The resident telepath knows more than he's letting on about this ritual, though, and Reigen pries it out of him. Mob convinces them all to give it a shot anyway; if the UFO sightings are genuine, their method doesn't matter.
And it works.
Aliens are real; Tome's plan to contact alien lifeforms with telepathy actually works. The sevensome join the sweet alien beings on their spaceship for an evening of games, chat and food. After exchanging tokens of friendship, the two groups part company over the rosy-cheeked dawn of a new year... with Inukawa headed in the wrong direction...
Tropes appearing in this episode include:
- Alien Abduction: A miscommunication with the aliens leads to Inukawa accompanying them to their home planet over the credits. A veritable acid trip ensues.
- "Blind Idiot" Translation: 'Telepath' is a perfectly fine English word for espers who can use telepathy. Its Japanese equivalent, テレパシスト (terepashìs'to), gets rendered in the official English subtitles as 'telepathist' for some reason.
- Hero of Another Story: While the aliens treat Inukawa with incredible hospitality anyway, he becomes their savior after vanquishing the dog-sized monster destroying their crops.
- Humanoid Aliens: Pink, with birdlike feet, eyes drawn straight from the pages of a shoujo manga, and very friendly spirits; the inside of their spaceship even reminds Tome of the Body Improvement clubroom at school.
- Telepathy: Takenaka reads Tome's thoughts, mediates everyone's wishes to connect through Mob's psychic amplification, and acts as an interpreter between aliens and humans.
- Terrified of Germs: Downplayed and justified; Reigen's first voiced thought after the alien offer of a handshake is of contracting pathogens. As he is the responsible adult here, Reigen's hesitation isn't presented as unreasonable; it only stands out because his young charges lack any.
- Third-Party Peacekeeper: Inukawa spends quite a bit of time in the episode's first quarter attempting to keep Tome from venting spleen all over Takenaka.
- Tractor Beam: How the aliens descend from their spacecraft and bring our gang to join them aboard. The terrified Reigen has the worst experience being floated up to the ship.
- Wham Shot: Green light from a UFO floods the sky behind Tome as she announces what she believes to be the end of a successful failed experiment to make first contact with alien life.
- What Did I Do Last Night?: Downplayed. Inukawa awakens from a dimly-remembered night of debauchery, in a room he doesn't recognize, his nude body covered in kisses (and his jacket). Instead of contending with the unease this brings him, he reaches for his handheld gaming console.
- Wistful Amnesia: Upon finally coming home after an unspecified amount of time (10 days in the manga) Inukawa's memories of his time with the friendly aliens have begun to fade.
